Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst, located in south central North Carolina, is the top destination for any golfer in this great state. The 2,000-acre Pinehurst resort, which features 144 holes spread out over eight championship courses, was named the best golf resort in the country by Travel & Leisure for the third time in 2008. The main attraction is Pinehurst No. 2, which has hosted more national championships than any other course in the country. The fairways on the 7,335-yard course are wider than what you will normally see at an U.S. Open site, but hilly greens make up the difference.
80 Carolina Vista Drive
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 235-8507
pinehurst.com
Pine Needles
This 7,015-yard course has hosted the U.S. Women's Open Championship in 1996, 2001 and 2007. The length on this course will not kill you, but like Pinehurst, the play around the greens certainly can make you miserable. Wide fairways are offset by multi-directional slopes on this winding layout, which features maples, holly trees, azaleas, dogwood, blackjack oaks and loblolly pines. The steep elevation changes could have you hitting your second shot from a downhill lie onto a green that slopes toward you. Pine Needles also features more wetlands and deeper bunkers than Pinehurst.
1005 Midland Rd.
Southern Pines, NC 28387
(910) 692-7111
pineneedles-midpines.com/
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The rolling fairways are not the only way to get a workout in North Carolina. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park runs 814 miles across Tennessee and into Carolina. It is the most visited national park in the country with more than 10 million visitors each year. Sixteen different mountains reach at least 6,000 feet in the Smoky Mountains, which are a part of the gigantic Appalachian Mountain chain. In all, the elevation changes in the park range from 800 to 6,643 feet. Along the trails and winding unpaved roads you may encounter one of the 1,500 bears or one of the 1,660 types of wild flowers and plants residing in the park. Feel free to go off on your own or follow park rangers on a tour.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
107 Park Headquarters Road
Gatlinburg, TN 37738
(865) 436-1200
nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
About The Author
Sean Quinn is a writer and editor based in New York City. He has spent the last decade covering major sporting events from the NFL playoffs to the U.S. Open. He has written for the Kansas City Star and ESPN, among others. He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
